Everyone is whacking them over there. Unfortunately most are going into the cooler...

There is just no way to effectively enforce the rules on T-Bend. So many camps and our brothers and sisters in LA seem to keep most of what they catch. The harvest rate on that lake is exactly why you don't find T-Bend producing huge fish.

Same old song and dance. People keeping fish and people crying about people keeping fish. Yet Toledo continues to be a great lake year in and year out. I have a place on the lake and grew up fishing on it and people have always kept fish. Toledo has always been great and always will be. The pressure has definitely increased the last few years but that is mostly sportsmen looking for that 10 pounder. The lake will be just fine.

It's about a 25% keep rate on Rayburn vs 70% on Toledo. Toledo getting much more pressure in past 4-5 years, more camps than ever. It used to not impact it but it certainly has lately. Publicly the guides won't say so but I know some very good guides that tell me it's definitely not the same lake. That's why lots of them are doing rayburn trips too. You just don't see the numbers of big fish that you did 4 years ago. It was nothing to see 40+lbs in spring on beds. Now you may go a week straight and not see a single 8lber.

Someone asked what tournament this was for... it's for the BASS Nation Central Regional. Folks from 19 different states are competing, 20 people from each state (10 boaters and 10 non-boaters). There's of course money in it for overall finishes, but to move on to the BASS Nation Championship, folks are just competing against people from their state.

After the second day, the 3 moving on from Texas that made the cut for the final third day are:

Albert Collins, in 5th overall with 34-11Derrick Shoffitt in 23rd overall with 29-3Nick LeBrun in 32nd overall with 28-4

The cut for the final day is to the money line, plus the top 3 from each state if they're not in the money. The best source I can find for the money line is a Bassmaster.com blog post that mentions it being the top 38. Derick Kuyrkendall barely missed this, finishing today in 40th, and 11 ounces away from beating the 38th place guy.

Last week the La. Oilmen Tournament was held Thurs, Friday and Sat. Don't know how many boats were in my small cove but I counted 23 come thru my cove in a 3 hr. period on Thursday, stopped counting at 25 on Friday, and who knows how many were here on Sat. I saw 11 at one time. Not all were tournament fishermen all 3 days as there were a lot of non-tournament boats. Won't use the term locals because they had LA. registration but it is a public lake.

On Wed of last week before the tournaments started I caught (and released) a 22+ lbs stringer (best 5 out of about 20 keepers) without ever starting my big engine. The fish were stacked in the cove. My neighbor caught and released a 7.14 lb on the same day. Then came the tournament. I saw and talked to one tournament boat all 3 days as he spent the entire day in the cove. He came back on Sunday "fun" fishing and said he and his partner weighed in 33+ lbs for the 3 days. All caught in the cove AND RELEASED SOMEWHERE ELSE. I did watch one boat from La. in the cove on Sat. and Sun. catch and put in the live well everything they caught. A couple I saw caught did not look 14 in. long but from a distance I could not be sure. I ask if they were fishing a tournament and they say they were fishing to eat. Again Public lake and it is their right.

On Sunday there was a 115 boat tournament fund raiser out of the La. side. Now comes the Nation Central with about 190 boats. Yep- Seem several of them in the cove also, but the catch rate was extremely low according to conversation with how they were doing. (I fish the Texas Nations trail so I am not knocking tournaments). Next weekend is the BASS Texas Nation Southeast region tournament which will be about 114 boats and the TEXAS OILMENS which is usually 200+ boats.

The point is for the cove I live own, there is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATCHING AND PUTTING IN A LIFEWELL FOR A TOURNAMENT OR CATCHING AND PUTTING IN A LIVE WELL TO EAT. The fish are removed and are not available. The catch rate dropped off so bad I now run to other areas of the lake to fish. And Yep I have a tournament next weekend and I will be doing the same thing they were; only not in this cove.

My point is you can fish out an area of the lake. I watched it happen. You hope the area will eventually replenish, but for now my cove is a dead water compared to what it was a week ago. I don't know the answer, but T-bend is being hammered with way too many tournaments- Money trails,team tournament trials, high school tournaments, Collegiate, bass clubs, Regional, Semi-Pro like Costa, fundrasiers, etc.

If you look at the catch rates for the last 3 yrs. the fishing is off. Sure there are 1 or 2 30+ stringers coming in at the higher level tournaments, but the weights drops of severely after that. I would hate to see the lake go to a tournament registry like lakes in other southern states. These states allow only a certain number of tournaments on a given lake with a certain number of boats. This was the only way they felt they could protect the fishery.

Who would think the best anglers from 19 states would come to T-bend at the absolute best time of the year to fish for 2 days and only 38 lbs. would be 5th place. Not complaining just pointing out the obvious.

Last edited by Texascajun69; 03/09/1804:56 PM.

John K FontenotI don't believe in killing the stupid people; what I am asking is why can't we remove all the warning labels and let nature take its course

If BASS published White Rock Lake in the middle of Dallas as #1 two years in a row there wouldn't be enough room for all the tournaments and trophy hunters. It' the human parasite effect. Once the word gets around that everything has been devoured, then we'll go somewhere else and TBend will recover.

"Be as straight as you can be and as crooked as you have to be, for what's right"